We rolled into the driveway at 1 a.m. C heard us come upstairs and was ready with a sleepy hug and kiss. M woke up early this morning and R went to get her; it seemed to take a while to dawn on her who it was. But she was awake enough by the time […]

Just couldn’t resist poking in for one more check-in/update. My main objective was to read the daily e-updates on the girls, which the grandmothers are e-mailing to each other and to us (for reading when we get back, but who can wait?). We really miss them. A lot.
Apparently C is sitting in R’s chair at […]

So this’ll be quick and hopefully not too riddled with typos (why do they put the @ sign there?)
I am in the internet cafe in the Columba Hotel here on the island, for just a few more minutes. Then it’s off to do some exploring.
Our weather has been incredible. While much of England is underwater, […]

So last night I was stomping around the kitchen, which I do from time to time. R often thinks I am stomping in judgment. (Can one stomp judgmentally? I’m afraid one can.) Often I am whirling around in that “How did we let it get so bad” cleaning frenzy.
Last night was one of those […]

First, thanks for the feedback on the “whaaaa?!” post. Having received confirmation that I’m not way off base, it’s only fair to take it down and speak to the person directly.
We are just about packed. I have a new raincoat with liner, a loaner cross-shoulder bag (two, actually, from two clergy friends—maybe I’ll bring both; […]

“For My Daughter, Who Insisted on Being Rocked to Sleep Two Days before I Leave for Scotland”

Thank you.

A first draft for writing class. The assignment was “something that keeps you up at night,” and is a topic that’s come up before (see #4).

———–
there are two ways out of a submerged car.
the first requires the tool, a tapper,
a squat metal spike
made just for this, for the window
and i have one,
a trade-show giveaway with […]

So I saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix this weekend. Mild spoilers if you haven’t seen it, mostly obscured though.
I was sad that Bellatrix hit Sirius with the killing curse before he went through the veil. That is NOT how it happened in the book—it was a less severe curse. I […]

Romans 7:14-25
14 For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin.* 15I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree […]

As some of you may have seen in this Wednesday’s RevGalBlogPals Festival, Pottermania has hit the RevGals—though not all of them. Yes, I am all over Harry like a Seeker on the Snitch, but I know there are others who will be ecstatic to see the July madness end.
So today’s F5 is a Choose Your […]

Thus saith the Vatican: non-Catholics aren’t part of the true church.
How’s this for a marketing slogan:
Christianity: Answering Questions Nobody’s Asking Anymore

Thankfully many Catholics have a long history of ignoring headquarters.
My father’s family is big and Irish and Catholic. My dad was supposed to be the priest in the family. He even went to seminary […]

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named

I think my Friday Five this week might be Potter-related, with an alternative set of questions for those who aren’t into the books—sort of a Choose Your Own Adventure. But Gord has started a prediction thread, which got me thinking about what I expect and/or hope to see in book 7 (spoilers for those who […]

ah, dear driver of the hulking black metal,
you “Imagine Peace” in earnest black letters
on a wide strip of white—
and you trumpet your sentiment with
four careful pieces of tape,
tape that will dissolve into gunk,
but easily disappear with goo-gone
purchased at the hobby lobby.
where’s the commitment?
do you think Peace is justsoclose,
so easily imagined, like the song
on the tip […]

Well, the remainder of the family leaves tomorrow, and I go back to work. It was a nice vacation (with a huge preaching event stuck in the middle) while it lasted.
Audio from the second sermon is up on the church website now. E-mail me if you want to know how to get to it.
This coming […]

John 15
12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants* any longer, because the servant* does not […]

Whoops! I have been in a family-induced haze these few days, with the July 4 holiday and taking time off while relatives are visiting. So I literally lost track of what day it was!
So today for the RevGals Friday Five, I dug up an oldie:
Today, what are you:
1. Wearing
Right now, Crusty ol’ Theological Seminary t-shirt […]